Users of selective call receivers who subscribe to maildrop services will receive from a selective call communication system different types of informative messages. These messages can include, for example, caller pages, stock market quotes, email, and weather information. When receiving such messages, prior art systems utilize a blinking icon to alert the user of the selective call receiver that a message has been received. When a multiplicity of these messages are received, the same icon is repeated in a plurality of predetermined locations on a display to indicate that the user has received multiple maildrop messages.
Thus, a user subscribing to two or more services has no way of knowing the nature of the messages received without previewing each message, or alternatively by memorizing an icon location assigned to each maildrop service. As users subscribe to greater numbers of maildrop services, the inconvenience to users in having to preview messages or memorize icon locations increases.
Thus, what is needed is a selective call communication system for identifying a category of information associated with a message. In particular, it is desirable that the user of a selective call receiver be able to identify quickly and efficiently the type of message received without resorting to prior art methods that can require, for example, message previewing.